5 Greatest Singing Voices Of All Time

Everyone has their favorite singer, their favorite band, and their favorite type of music, and they are ALL DIFFERENT – such is the nature of the beast. We can argue day and night about who is right and who is wrong, but the truth is simply this: we all are. Choosing favorites in the music world is as subjective an activity as there ever was… generally speaking.

However, the following list of the 5 best voices of all time is absolutely indisputable. Nothing you can say can alter the fact that these five men and women have voices that defy logic, that contradict the basic principles of human physiology, and that are somehow able to lift us out of our bodies and up to enormous heights that are sometimes dark and sorrowful and other times brilliant and joyous.

They are the best at what they do, not by virtue of training or money, but because they were given the divine gift of a direct connection between their raw souls and their mouths.

I dare you to disagree.

5. Freddie Mercury

The Queen front-man with the enormous mouth (Gotye would be jealous) and the bushy stache had the voice of an angel–and that’s not like how you describe your precious-but-really-quite-terrible niece’s singing voice, but rather that of an ACTUAL ANGEL. Mercury can transport you to dizzying heights with the sometimes graceful, sometimes jarring rise and fall of his vocals, taking you beyond the limits of your expectation and into a brand new world of sound that you never knew existed.

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Peter lives in Albuquerque with the three loves of his life: his lady, his cat, and his large library of books. When he's not acting on stage, on film, or writing on his laptop, he can generally be found on the porch with his nose buried in a book and a tall glass of whatever's cold in his hand.

Discussion

92 Comments

Nah. Freddie was surely one of the most impeccable, stupendous male voices to first hit Rock, but he was not the best male voice ever at all; was he one of the greatest male voices of all time? Absolutely (that is an inevitable, unavoidable fact). He just wasn’t THE best.

@Johnny L Your greatest argument for Freddie being recognised as the greatest male voice of all time is that he recorded some songs with an Opera singer? What if I made the same argument for Barry White, who sang live with Pavarotti?

Nah. Freddie was surely an impeccable, stupendous force in singing, but he was not the best male voice ever; one of the greatest male voices in Rock? Absolutely (no arguments there). He just wasn’t THE best…

Might be getting myself into deeper trouble here, but I have to say that MJ is not on my list of greatest voices. If this was a rundown of the best performers or dancers of all time, he’d be #1 or #2, for sure. For-absolutely-sure.

I’m not knocking Thom Yorke, but he’s not fit for this list. I can only assume that you are a big Radiohead fan and that he’s voice means a lot to you.

These list’s bug me, they have to go beyond the authors top ten, surely? I could write an article on my favourite colours, what would it achieve? This author isn’t a renowned music critic that we are all dying to hear.

This list feels especially guilty of that, simply choosing your favourite singers instead of actually trying to come to a more substantial conclusion as to who the top 5 best singers are.

I dont believe that idea is subjective either. For a singer to have a good voice is fact, not a matter of taste, to find the top 5 singers in popular music would be quite easy and most of these wouldn’t make top 20!

Dude, you know, critics aren’t super-beings with powers of music hearing beyond our realms ? Anyone can be a critic, IT IS MUSIC. IT IS ART. There is no absolute best. Music speaks to some part of some people. That explains why I love Velvet Revolver and someone else think they are garbage.

Yeah, I agree that a beginner guitarist can’t stand before the likes of Page, Hendrix or Gilmour, but that is only a matter of mastering your instrument (or in this case, voice) and knowing what to do with it. Once you know how to play your instrument, you can be as good as anyone, it only depends of the listener.

Music is not, never was and never will be a competition. There is no absolute number 1.

Yeah I was thinking pretty much what you wrote. And to Julien, of course there can be a number 1. The top 3 out of these 5 are just absurd choices out of the author’s favorites. This was of course intentional, an age-old internet ploy baiting us into commenting… and it has worked.

Fred Mercury had a great voice but, in a way, that voice was so powerful that he had not much room to work around it…I don’t think he was much versatile. He was fantastic, of course. Yorke has an inimitable voice, and he can do anything with it. Listen to Creep, Pyramid Song and his vocals for Velvet Goldmine or The Mess We’re In with PJ Harvey. Don’t sound like the same singer. Plus, he manages to work his voice like an instrument, making it part of the song, not the core of the song (listen to Before Your Very Eyes from Atoms For Peace).

He wasn’t versatile? Queen were one of the most versatile groups out there, from Disco/funk to Hard Rock to Opera style singing and ballads. And they needed a singer like Mercury to be able to pull all that off. And boy did he do it well.

No need to beg, my friend! Here’s my list of the 10 Greatest Colors of All Time (and, yes, this is just as indisputable.).

10. Yellow — for the sun and Squirt cans
9. Brown — for James and chocolate
8. Purple — for grape soda and mountains majesty
7. Pink — for New Mexico sunsets and Victoria’s Secret
6. Violet — for Willy Wonka and pretty flowers
5. Crimson — for Denzel Washington and the King
4. Green — for tens and twenties
3. Blue — for grass and donkeys
2. Red — for Fiona Apple and gala apples
1. Periwinkle — for the name… just the name

I’m not a big fan of any of these guys so maybe my opinion is invalid but this list is horridly dull and not even one Soul Musician? that’s just insulting or anything that sounds vaguely interesting (bar Janis)

I’m definately going to have to listen to Jeff Tweedy and Jeff Buckley if they’re considered to be better than Thom Yorke! Thom Yorke is simply amazing, although I would have said that the song ‘Last Flowers’ best shows his voice.

Thom was inpired by Jeff Buckley to do his iconic vocals in Fake Plastic Trees. He watched Buckley during the recording of The Bends and said he gave him courage to accept his voice as it was. Thom was a fan.

I’ll have to admit my personal bias but Serj Tankian of System of a Down has amazing range and variety in his vocals. He may sound strange to others but if you listen enough you will hear the briliance.

I found this list rather lacking but luckily made up for with your choices; the 2 Jeffs are/were diabolically great. Good to see them at the top. A Ghost, Yankee + Whole Love w/ Grace, Sketches + Live at Sin-e… I’m in Heaven. For female singer I’d definitely have Sarah Vaughan on there for sure i.e “Summertime”, say no more. And the next time the sassafras is stifling my mind I’ll think very intently about your top ten greatest colours of all time (But purple is clearly for Alvin, sheeesh!).
Oh yeah, where are Anthony Keidis*, Diamanda Galas*, Tom Waits*, Brian Warner* and Joanna Newsom*?!

I think it’s a slippery slope making any criticisms of this list considering my favorite band is The Smashing Pumpkins and I get a lot from Billy’s vocals. Having said that if I was to make a list with the bold title of “5 Greatest Vocals of All Time” I surely would not put him on it and I wouldn’t have put Thom Yorke in my top 100. I like some Radiohead tracks but the vocals are some of the most grating I’ve ever heard and if he is an alien it’s closer to sounding like ET himself as a singer. When it comes to how a band could sound better with a different vocalist I would definitely recommend Obadiah Parkers cover of Idioteque as an example. :)

Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve heard so many comments (not just here, but from my own home!) mentioning, moaning, or even berating for the lack of Frank on the list. I don’t think I explained the list well enough. This isn’t the top five prettiest singers, or the best-trained singers, or the ones that can hit a clean note for a sweet length of time. This is less about all that, and more about voices that reveal a truth, relay a message, and plead with you to hear the secrets of their very souls. These are voices that affect us, sometimes irrationally, sometimes very directly, but always thoroughly. Frank has one of the cleanest, easiest voices I’ve ever heard, and he would have been at the top of that list. This is just…well…a different list.

thanks for responding sorry if i was harsh. i think you should have titled it differently is all. you argue a good case for your choices. its an interesting article. and its provoking good discussion which is key.

Definitely a mislabeled list but you described what you were going for absolutely and completely beautifully here and makes much more sense (both as it applies to list and art/music in general). As Hendrix said “You’ve got to know much more than just the technicalities of notes- you’ve got to know what goes between the notes,” (p.s. it’s called soul lol). 10 would’ve been awesome though :)

I can tell you that when I listen to his voice, I am transported to a safe place, back to a time when life made a little more sense. Yeah, I was a 90s teen, so it’s just plain nostalgia. Doesn’t take away from the beauty and evocative ability of his voice, though. I simply adore him.

Although I’m not a fan of their music, I would say Celine Dion and Sarah Brightman are amazing singers with unbelievable vocal range. Others would be Jim Morrison (The Doors) maybe John Lennon, Amy Winehouse and Aretha Franklin. I agree with Freddie Mercury and Janis Joplin though.

I totally agree that Celine Dion and Sarah Brightman have angelic voices, but they just don’t move me in the same visceral, soul-shifting way as the five listed above. Jim, John, Amy, and Aretha, though… Yeah, they might definitely have a spot in my top 20. Yeah, absolutely.

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These things never get ANYTHING right. They leave out Brad Delp of Boston, who is RIDICULOUSLY underrated. They leave out Matt Bellamy of Muse, who is, to put it simply, the voice of God. And this one doesn’t even have Robert Plant??? What is this???

I can see Jeff Buckley at number 1 because he was an amazing singer. But Mercury at 5, he has more ability than the rest of singers in the list and is more versatile. His voice is one of the most distintive of all time. Seriusly, I´m not overrating Mercury, he deserves a high place, tought this is about singing voices, highly subjective thing…

No Elvis? What a joke! Forget all his other talents his voice alone was untouchable. His voice covered two and a half Octaves! He was a tenor AND a bass AND he could do a true falsetto! No one in ur list comes close! What a joke!

Finally a countdown that isn’t all about pop artists. I agree, Jeff Buckley is the best on this list, I think Freddy should be tied with Tweedy for second. Anyone who doesn’t agree about Buckley never gave the guy a real chance or never heard of him which wouldn’t be surprising seeing as he was only real big in France and Australia. But he was and still is the best voice i ever heard in y life.

Thom Yorke,Jeff Buckley? lol Where is Seal,Chris Isaak, ray charles, adele, Peter Grabriel, Kate bush, Cedric Myton, Sting, lucky dube…etc etc etc i can go on forever, there are so many good voices, its ignorant to make a list.

Peter – an interesting list, and while i think Buckley’s voice is amazing, don’t know if it’s best ever. If you get the chance though, try and listen to the work of the man that Jeff Buckley himself called “my elvis” and “incomparable”. Cheers.

This is quite funny.
While I was listening to J.B. right now,
actually starting back in 1995 with more than a decades wondering interruption, and was googeling the best singer in the world just for fun to see whom people find as the benchmark of a good singer.
It will always be a subjective assesment to everyone,
but funny finding one who is just as mesmerized of his voice like
oneself, while listening to him.
It is true Freddy Mercury was a great singer.
Specially when it comes to the quantity of his voice.
But to me when it comes to quality Jeff Buckley is THE NUMBER ONE.
He was like a singing violin, singing the notes that a piano couldn´t
bring.

ARE YOU SERIOUS WITH THIS LIST? The only real SINGER on this list is Freddie Mercury, and I wouldn’t even call him top 5 material. JANIS JOPLIN AND TOM YORKE!!! Are you kidding me? Talented, perhaps. But exceptional singer they certainly are not.

I don’t really agree with any of this list. Honestly, many might find it old-fashioned, but Nat King Cole had the most wonderful voice I’ve ever heard. Crisp, clear, not too this or too that. Just perfect.